I like Kirk's Class A, his short sleeve, and the long sleeve open collar duty tunics. If they had limited the variants to these and made the trousers and boots a contrasting color it would have looked much better. Not nearly so bland, and would have hidden Decker's Willie.
I don't feel that way - and the fact that we had them all through the TNG era as part of the comm badges supports the notion that they were not an insurmountable plot device. However, I do agree that making the tech too magical is annoying as it leads writers to conveniently forget stuff to maintain the drama or leave Troi off the bridge that week. Bio-belts and communicators should have been used just like the bracelets in Blake's 7 (i.e. portable quantum scanners) so far from being a hindrance to the drama, they add to it since a malfunctioning belt or loss of communicator means no getting back to the ship. It also means no beaming enemies to your brig unless you can first tag them and no beaming everyone in the general area. Big improvement IMO.
It's interesting, what with all the frame-by-frame, microscopic analysis this shows' gadgets and concepts get, yet I don't recall seeing anything hypothesizing just how that suit-temperature thing is operated. Actually, why did Kirk order his guys to set such an exact temperature? Outfits are separate parts: shirts, pants and so on. Does this heating system have separate controls for the shirt, pants and each boot? Do the guys on the ship wear socks? I can't remember seeing any...
The thermostat connections would be wireless, I suspect. I really liked the black belt, myself. Everything about the look of the new uniforms, even the sewn-in shoes, is unique and memorable. The cut of the pants where they meet the shoe is a cool look, I don't remember seeing that kind of a look before. The wrist communicators made perfect sense to me and I don't know why they had to get rid of it. Everything about this costume, this uniform, shows the artistry and brilliance of Robert Fletcher. I really wish the rest of the movies could've continued to use his inspired designs from The Motion Picture. And if they never explained the belt buckle and Bones had to run through the halls in order to find an injured crewman, or a dead body, I wouldn't give it a second thought, to be perfectly honest. Just keep that look! And perhaps the continued use of the outfits would've put more pressure on the cast to keep fit ...
Same here, the reason why they changed was most likely the Studio wanting to cash in on nostalgia for the flip top models which they were a big part of wanting the large, bulky models seen in the sequel. It wasnt until the version used in STIII and V which returned to the true nostalgia of the TOS model. I will be honest I really didnt like the one piece suits, the 2 piece ones looked better but the best again still has to be Kirk's short sleeve version; the white one gray looked good and the difference made the uniform 'pop' a little more than the solid grey one. I too really liked the style of the sewn on delta, it looked clean, fresh and is one of my favourite iterations of the insignia along with Kirk's metal version earlier on, the GEN/DS9/VOY and AGT comm badges as well as the revised classic versions from ST09/ITD.
A number of things went a little 'retrograde' from TWOK onwards. The pants and boots on the Monster Maroons are a clear throwback to the TOS uniforms, and as you say things like the phasers and the replacement communicator props were also redesigned to look more like updated versions of the ones in TOS, rather than the different designs envisioned for TMP. In a lot of ways TMP was more "forward thinking", with a production design that (rightly or wrongly) was all about turning everything we saw in TOS on its head and giving it a fresh luck of paint. Which is why things like the wrist communicators exist.
I was looking at pics of the different uniform variants this morning and came across one that was worse than Decker's Willie. It was a promo pic of Kirk and Spock, with Nimoy in the jumpsuit. If you've seen it, you know. If not, it's better left alone. Seriously, there were too many costume changes. Too many variants. They could have done away with the jumpsuit in favor of the separate tunic and trousers and no one would have noticed. Or even cared. And for crying out loud, underwear!
Well, itn TMP, they continued writing Security as muscle-bound Dunces. Recall the exchange between Dr. McCOy and a Security man in TMP: Security: "Biological units?" Dr. McCoy: "Humans! Us." IMO I think the armor was to basically make sure the audience knew it wasn't just another crewmember standing next to one of the main cast; it was definitely 'ship's security' personnel.
In the sexually liberated Star Trek future, humans have evolved beyond the point where they feel embarrassed by their lack of undergarments. In fact, I bet Kirk and crew would feel perfectly comfortable walking around the ship naked. I can almost see Picard now, gearing up for one of his famous speeches justifying this to Q, as a reason why humanity has shown rapid progress over the centuries, or something.
^ Yes indeed. I like the guy on the walkie talkie behind him: "Dude, I'm not even joking, he's walking around without his shirt on AGAIN." In all seriousness, obviously the uniforms exist for purposes of maintaining discipline and establishing rank and such, but I think the modern societal taboos associated with Nakedness (or, indeed, almost-nakedness, like the "I've got nothing to hide!" TMP uniforms) would not exist in Star Trek's future. People on the Enterprise just don't notice the Decker-unit, or Ilia's cameltoe, or Lieutenant Uhura's frequent panty flashes in TOS, or whatever else. They aren't hung up on such things.
Going back to the jumpsuits and going commando ... Looking back, this would have been a golden opportunity for the costume department to invent the sports bra and "invisible" briefs available today. Just think, Paramount could have made a fortune on the design patents. Instead of having Decker's Willie out there for all to see, they could have been making millions on marketing "invisible underwear." But seriously, they could have put the jumpsuited men in jockstraps, or dance belts, or something. I don't know about anyone else, but I like my junk supported, not flailing about like a tree in the wind.
True, but the movies (and shows) are still aimed at contemporary audiences, who do tend to notice such things. Futurism aside, these are still costumes for a theatrical entertainment intended for modern moviegoers. Whether the "uniforms" might appeal to imaginary future people doesn't make them any more attractive to the audience. They need to look cool now. "Trust us, I know these outfits look ugly to you, but 300 years from now they'll be the height of fashion!"